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In May, WannaCry infected hospitals in the UK, a Spanish telecommunications company, and other targets in Russia, Turkey, Germany, Vietnam.

Marcus, a researcher from cybersecurity firm Kryptos Logic, who is originally from Ilfracombe, inadvertently stopped WannaCry in its tracks by registering a specific website domain included in the malware's code.

At the time of writing it is not clear what charges, if any, Hutchins may face.

Motherboard have verified that a detainee called Marcus Hutchins, 23, was being held at the Henderson Detention Center in Nevada early on Thursday. A few hours after, Hutchins was moved to another facility, according to a close personal friend.

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The friend told Motherboard they "tried to visit him as soon as the detention centre opened but he had already been transferred out." Motherboard granted the source anonymity due to privacy concerns.

"I've spoken to the US Marshals again and they say they have no record of Marcus being in the system. At this point we've been trying to get in contact with Marcus for 18 hours and nobody knows where he's been taken," the person added. "We still don't know why Marcus has been arrested and now we have no idea where in the US he's been taken to and we're extremely concerned for his welfare."

A US Marshals spokesperson told Motherboard in an email, "my colleague in Las Vegas says this was an FBI arrest. Mr. Hutchins is not in U.S. Marshals custody."

The FBI acknowledged a request for comment but did not provide one in time for publication by Motherboard.

Shortly before his arrest, Hutchins was in Las Vegas during Black Hat and Def Con, two annual hacking conferences.

"We are aware a UK national has been arrested but it's a matter for the authorities in the US," a spokesperson for the UK's National Crime Agency told Motherboard in an email.

Marcus Hutchins

A spokesperson from the UK's National Cyber Security Centre t old Motherboard in an email, "We are aware of the situation. This is a law enforcement matter and it would be inappropriate to comment further."

The keen surfer, who lives in Devon, was praised by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) for his part in tackling the ransomware's propagation around the world.

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He became an international sensation after he prevented hundreds of thousands of computers from being infected by the virus that wreaked havoc across the NHS.

The blogger said he was "jumping around a room with the excitement" after he discovered that activating a specific web domain could disable the worm.

MalwareTech said he had also been providing the NCSC with data to help notify infected companies, warning that computers which had not had their security brought up to date will be vulnerable to further attack.